It's Been Too Long
by Latiosman1
Summary: Kagome and Inuyasha are seprated after an arguement, and both are forced to start new lives as they try to sort out their feelings for each other and those they know. Set a few months after the storyline of the show.
1. New Beginnings

TLA/N(TheLazyAuthor's Notes): I've been waiting for something to inspire me to write again, and I got my source. The story is simply a metaphor of my life. Almost every character represents someone close to me. I would like to thank Sammy-chan for her influence on me and this story. For reference, with times, I treat the Feudal Era as another world, not as if it were in the past. So if the date is May 15, 2003-Present, It will also be May 15, 2003-Feudal.

Introduction

For them, it's been a while, months in fact. Kagome and Inuyasha had gone their separate ways after an argument in the feudal era. It got violent, Kagome pinned Inuyasha to a tree like Kikyo had dozens of times. She left the group immediately, she didn't have much choice, two weeks later were her final highschool entrance exams.

Kagome's House-May 15, 2003

"The exams start on Wednesday, I won't have a moment to waste." Kagome was in her room after a shower and dinner on Sunday night. Her books were all over the floor, she looked at a ripped picture of her and Inuyasha.

"Screw him!" She threw the picture against a wall and flipped on her stomach. "I'd rather see Miroku than him. dnag, I know I have problems with this."

"Kagome! Tomorrow's school! Get to bed!" Her mother yelled from downstairs.

Kagome got up and flipped a switch, and with the lights off, she went to sleep.

Feudal Era-Same Time

"Inuyasha get off the fire. Just because your robe is fireproof doesn't make it a good idea." Miroku said from his normal cross-legged position.

"No, I need to meditate. I need serious focus, and physical pain will only make me stronger."

Inuyasha was sitting on top of a raging fire. They sat on a campground near Kikyo's village resting for the next day.

"Why can't you just go to Kagome's time and forgive her, like always." Shippo asked from his corner next to Kirara.

"Not this time, she doesn't even deserve to come back. She should stay there in the future."

"What about the Sacred Jewel? She's got a decent portion of it, almost half. If she just keeps it, none of us are ever going to stop Naraku." Sango was inspecting her weapons, she continued to work diligently.

"She can keep it. I stopped caring when we beat him that last time, he's finally losing his touch." Inuyasha remained still amid the flames.

"He's not going to play easy for long, he always finds a new way to replicate himself." Miroku replied.

"We need to just shut up and go out separate ways. We shouldn't waste our time just sitting around." He looked at everyone else, who was silently agreeing.

"Fine then. I leave tomorrow for Hoshigenki." Miroku replied.

"I'm going home, and I suppose Shippo should come with me." Sango added.Shippo nodded as though he didn't want to and went to sleep. Inuyasha popped his neck and jumped away into the forest in seconds.

Inuyasha's Forest-20 Minutes Later

Inuyasha looked at the sky in the clearing by his well. He stared at the stars, which were fewer in number than normal.

"God, or whoever's there. I need help. My life is messed up. Kagome left, she's mad, and so am I. I can't make her come back. You're the one that might have made this happen. Fate is in the hands of God. The true god, not one that you can see on Earth, controls fate. Did you want this to come between us? Did you want us to never see each other again?" He stared for much longer after his prayer. "How long can I go without Kagome?"

Chapter One----Maintain Conciousness

Kagome's Highschool-December 3, 2003

"I can't believe Hojo got into a different high school than me...If Inuyasha's not going to come find me, I guess I'll have to be more serious in school, and I won't be getting any help from Hojo...This is going to be too hard." Kagome thought as she went down a hall in her school. She passed a student in the hall who reminded her of Hojo, she could tell the two were different, but she saw something in him. He gave her a glance and continued in the opposite direction of her.

"Give me a second! This is a hard question!" The boy she had seen was in her class two periods later.

"Hurry up! That's last week's math homework! Can't you use a protractor?" His friend was next to him making his homework more difficult by distracting him.

"I'll solve this later, the teacher probably won't pay attention and I'll just write down the answer then." He closed his workbook and turned to his friend.

"Ok, Sandaime, what were you saying?" He questioned his friend.

"I can tell you like someone Kagemane. You've been acting weird lately. Who is it?"

" No one in particular. A bunch of girls I've seen around recently. I never really liked many hot girls, they're all talkative and expensive, I can't keep up! Just a girl who's smarter than me. Not too hard for me to find, right?" Kagemane laughed lightly.

"So it isn't just one girl? Do you even know all their names?" Sandaime replied.

"Koyuki and Kizuki definitely. They don't really hang with the crowd, kinda like me!"

"Why either of them? They don't know you at all!"

"Hey! Sometimes all it takes is a couple a' lines of smooth speech and you've got someone nailed." Kagemane looked around and spotted Kagome until turning back to his friend. "I would say I like her too. The one in the corner." Sandaime looked up and shrunk back. "Kagome? You'd have no chance, she's going out with the soccer captain!" He thought and replied. "I could make it. She probably just dates him to make it look like she's really cool."

"You wouldn't have a chance, in fact, just to show you, I dare you to try and woo her right now." Kagemane grabbed his friend's hand and shook as a sign of acceptance. He walked over to Kagome, she stopped walking.

"Hey sexy. Want to try somethig crazy?" He said smoothly with his arm around her.

"Nani-? Get away from me!" She ran outside, embarrassed. The bell rang almost immediately and all the standing students hurried to their seats.

_Damn! I'm late because of that idiot!_ She quickly ran back in.

"Kagome Higurashi, you're late." The teacher said as she entered. "Hurry up next time! You've been here four months, try and get your schedule straight!" She walked silently to her seat and glared at Kagemane. He winked back at her innocently, she broke her stare in fury.

_He's nothing like Hojo! I can't believe I ever thought that!_

After Class

"I told you Kagemane, you couldn't get a girl if you tried." Sandaime teased as they left.

As they walked down the hall, Kagome strutted past them and avoided eye contact. Kagemane hurried up to her and tried to get her to stop.

"Ma'am, I would like to apologize for my actions at the beginning of the period. I never was good with pick-up lines..."

"I suppose you didn't do anything too stupid. Just try to show some respect!" She tried to leave him, he grabbed her and walked with her.

"I have a question for you, actually. Are you dating anyone at the school?"

"No, I haven't even had a boyfriend since Middle School."

"Huh, guess my friend's a liar. He said you were going out with Mashimo. Guess not, I'll make sure he stops saying lies about you."

"Thank you." She walked off while Kagemane returned to Sandaime.

"You liar! You don't even know her and your making up crap about her!"

"I don't care, I made you look like an idiot." Sandaime laughed and ran off. Kagemane thought to himself as his friend departed.

_Sandaime, you're an idiot. and the more time you spend going that wasy the harder it'll be to get to your next class; in the opposite direction. I have the same 5th period with you anyway,see you there._


	2. Just forget Me

It's Been Too Long-Chapter 2-Just Forget

Feudal Era- The Next Day

"What a night! How often do I exorcize a hotel _and_ find a date in one day? Free night, cheap love, works for me." Miroku stretched his arms and got off his mat. _What do I have planned?_ He looked around and found a note. It said _Hoshigenki_ on it, nothing else. _Oh yeah, Hoshigenki_, _duh_. He put his robe on and left the hotel.

"I bet Miroku is already in Hoshigenki, unless he got distracted." Sango said angrily to Kirara. They walked through a thin forest, heading for Sango's village. They both stopped as Sango's nose twitched. She looked up, sensing strange behavior. She heard something, but nothing could be seen.

"Do you see anything?" Sango looked down at Kirara, who nodded slowly. "Sometimes I wish you could talk Kirara. I can't imagine what life must be like from your perspective. Like that argument between Kagome and Inuyasha, if it's really that big a deal I wish I'd been there. It's probably nothing, though, Kagome's only been gone for 1, 2, 3... 8 months?! She could just be really tired of such a crazy life here. She must need time to relax."

Inuyasha was bouncing around the forest trees, looking for a meal. _Kagome, I don't think you should come back. You need to leave once and for all._

Flashback

"Inuyasha! There's a fire in the next village! Someone said they saw an army of demons!" Kagome shouted as she burst through a door to where Inuyasha was staying.

"Okay! Let's go!" Inuyasha sat Kagome on his back and raced off. On the way there Inuyasha asked about the situation.

"Did you tell Sango and Miroku?"

"I sent a villager, but they're on a date miles away. Shippo is getting Kirara and they'll follow us soon."

The two arrived at the scene soon after. What Kagome reported was true, the whole city was burning and crowded by demons.

"Inuyasha! We've got to do something!"

"I'll kill every one of them."

End

_I wish it was that easy all the time. Just live and let die. _

Shippo sat, glum and still. He could barely see. He had his toy snake out..and was fiddling with it."Kagome's never coming back." He had his hand on his chin, legs crossed. He heard a sudden crash and looked up. Inuyasha was sitting on the edge of the hole above him.

"What are you doing in the bottom of this well? It's not like Kagome's going to come back."

"She's been gone for this long so far, how long could she last without us?" Inuyasha suddenly remembered his prayer from months earlier.

"_How long can I go without Kagome?_"

"Shippo...before she left, did Kagome ever talk about me when I was away?"Inuyasha asked solemnly.

"On occasion." Shippo grunted as he got out of the well. "She would usually talk to Sango, but I remember once when she was sitting by me. It was on the night of the new moon. She said she was scared because you weren't there, you were hiding somewhere else."

_She thought I was weak?_

"She was always so worried when you were human. She said she wanted you to stay strong, no matter what."

"My human form was my only weakness, I can't believe I let it get to me like that."

"You're still strong. Maybe Kagome just didn't understand you."

"She did." He sighed.

Present-December 10, 2003

"I need to talk to you. I can't keep going on without you. You're the only one who can fulfill me." Kagemane spoke with hearts in his eyes.

"You do? I-I can't believe it, I have no idea what to say."

"How about; yes?" Kagemane laid a small ring in the hand he was holding.

There was a sudden applause.

"Thank you Kagemane and Sandaime for that brilliant demonstration of Western acting."

The two boys took a bow in front of the class. As they walked to their seat, they looked at each other and smirked, realizing how stupid they must've looked.

_Drama class sure is weird. But, it's still fun. It's just too bad Kagome took up band._

Band Hall- Same Time

"At measure 67, there's a fermata, and at last check, most of the woodwinds with that note haven't been watching me. Make sure to mark that in your music." The band director instructed carefully. The flutes, oboes, bassoons, clarinets, and saxophones all bent over on their stands to make the reminder.

_This sucks. I'm so much worse then everyone else. Everyone else has been in band for years. It seems like we should have a beginner band, but I'd be the only one in it..._ Kagome sighed.

_At least I'm not in some stupid elective like art or choir, I've never been able to handle being creative. I just can't believe this hunk of metal is what I thought I'd be good at._

Bell Ring

"Kagome, are you okay?" Kizuki Kidomari, the first chair oboist said as she packed up.

"I guess, just depressed." She packed her flute up slowly.

"Boy trouble?"

_Why do people always assume that?!_

"No! Have you ever even seen me with a guy?"

"Well, just a while ago I saw Kagemane walking with you. Is it him?"

_Kagemane? Is he that guy who I passed in the hall?_

"It might be, I'm not sure who you mean."

"You know, tall, brown hair, good shape."

"Yeah, that really narrows it down."

"He's got that tiny pair of glasses...He's always talking to Sandaime or Hakudo."

"Oh, him! Hardly, he's the last thing on my mind." She smiled.

"Good to know you don't care for him. I heard he's going to ask me to the dance!"

_He certainly keeps his options open. I guess I shouldn't care about what he said._

"Good for you. Make sure he doesn't cheat." Kagome finished packing up and walked off.

"What does that mean?!" Kizuki yelled.

"Nothing!" Kagome replied sweetly.

Kagome walked swiftly off down the hall, leaving the entire audience in a dreadfully terrible suspense.

TLA----Until Later ya'll, or, it's entirely possible the next chapter is only a few centimeters from your hand, who knows? Best wishes, Au revoir!


End file.
